“New Studio, First Look”, acrylics on 9×12″ stretched canvas, 2019
Entered in The Las Cruces First Friday Art Ramble, May 2019 and exhibited at MAS Art for the month of May.
Original available
Prints and more available through Fine Art America.
Painted from a picture taken when I first arrived in New Mexico, my first look at my New Studio (rented sight unseen from a craigslist ad) in early March. ’19. Painting completed in late April, ’19…
As I took the picture, I was standing on the original route of the old El Camino Real, the Royal Road the Spaniards built from Mexico City to Santa Fe… Everybody, from legions of Conquistadores, columns of Mexican Army and American Cavalry, Outlaws like Billy the Kid and Crew, and Lawmen like Sheriff Pat Garrett, not to mention all the Settlers, Travelers, Traders, Natives, etc., all passed right by where my doorstep currently is… There was also an Apache ambush/massacre apparently within footsteps of my abode, about fifty people killed with only a young boy as sole survivor… One story of how Las Cruces was named; crosses were put up for each victim of the massacre, also several parties of people migrating to the west coast all died here from trying to cross the Desert and they got crosses, too… Las Cruces is Spanish for “The Crosses”… So, there’s plenty of Spirits (and History) here… they are a part of This Place and i felt i should include Them… Look closely into the Open Door, into the Shadows, you might see Them, too…